Energy Lockdown

Profession: Mesmer/*

Name: None

Type: PvP, all types.

Category: Energy denial of a target.

Attributes:
Domination Magic 14 (10(base)+3(rune)+1(hat))
Inspiration Magic 13 (12(base)+1(rune))
Fast Casting 9 (8(base)+1(rune))

Skills Set:
Energy Surge {elite} (domination magic)
Energy Burn
Signet of Weariness
Signet of Humility
Ether Feast
Mantra of Inscriptions
Drain Enchantment
Resurrection Signet

Summary: The purpose of this build is to deny a target energy. Originally, it was ment solely for monk shutdown, which was why signet of humility was added. The idea is as follows: Use mantra of inscriptions to allow for a bit of spamming with your signets. The first thing against the monk is signet of humility, which in many cases takes out the energy management of a monk (like offering of blood). Next is energy surge followed by energy burn. This will drain 20 energy from the monk. Follow with signet of weariness. Now, the monk is down 30 energy, has no elite (and so probably minimal energy management) and has taken 160 damage. You should use ether feast when you can, 3 energy gone every 9.5 or so seconds is almost a full pip, and while the actual drain is small, it can help to keep a monk from casting a 5 energy spell for another few seconds. With mantra of inscriptions up, signet of humility recharges in 10.6 seconds, and lasts 14. Long enough to reapply it without giving the monk a window of opportunity to gain energy. Drain enchantment is decent energy management for you since so many teams have enchantments, and it can take off something like ether prodigy if one slips by you, or can just remove a general enchantment like life bond.

Notes & Concerns: Drain enchantment works great when enchantments are around, but is otherwise a dead slot. No interrupts, specifically no cry of frustration or leech signet, means that you may have trouble in certain situations. Ignorance could work better than ether feast by locking all signets, literally blocking a monk completely, but is a hefty 15 energy, not all characters use signets, and can be removed via hex removal. It also removes the only heal in the build, and would slightly reduce energy drain power.

Credit goes to myself and the hundreds of opponents who I used this against, for showing me its weaknesses.

looks great, u can tell there was alot of thought put into it.

Doesn't Shame stop OoB?

ya looks like a solid build. if you dont mind i might steal your build(with a few modification for personally prefrence). iv been wanting to make an energy denial mesmer but havnt really had much time. hopefully this will give me the added incentive to start.

If you're so much into energy draining then why not give Ether Lord a try? Sure - it's a sucky skill on its own merit (many people have pointed out that a simple Energy Tap gives you more energy and that without all the nasty side-effects like losing all your energy), but for shutdowns, especially energy denial shutdowns it's like THE skill to have. Finish off your energy denial combo with it and the respective Monk will have NOT A SINGLE POINT of energy for 9 seconds. After Ether Lord has expied it'll be another 3-4 seconds until he will be able to use any lousy 5 energy skill.

Think about it. This could be a nice replacement for Ether Feast.

Ether Lord isn't too bad for energy regen, but it'd really only hinder Warriors or sustained-enchantment Monks by any appreciable degree. If you're using it on any other kind of character, they just regen slower, instead of actually losing energy over time.

edit: You can get 3 pips of energy degen, as I just reminded myself after looking up the skill.

OoB doesn't target. Diversion can work against OoB.

You mentioned that you don't have an interrupt in this build, and that Drain Enchantment becomes a dead slot against enchantment-light groups. Why not replace Drain Enchantment with Leech Signet? Leech Signet would work well with your Mantra of Inscriptions, and with such a high Inspiration attribute it would probably return quite a bit of energy and recharge in nearly half the time it normally does. Now you've got an energy recharge and an interrupt, but no enchantment stripper :-/ Just a thought.

Also, since I've tried using builds similar to this in the Competition Arenas, what do you do as far as tactics go when a warrior starts beating on you? In 4v4, I imagine Ether Feast can only carry you so far - eventually, a savvy warrior will outdistance Ether Feast with his damage. Do you just blow your energy denial skills and start kiting?

Truth is, decent warriors can eat you alive. Ether feast, as you say, will only take you so far, and that is actualy not very far. Empathy would be nice, but helps with the energy denial not at all. Kiting sometimes works, but some warriors have sprint, and then. . .

It can, but most monks will not toss there energy management to a diversion. Still, diversion is generally good, but with the changes made in a previous update (3 second cast, 10 second recharge) it is not nearly so good. Diversion would also be a better choice than shame because shame would usually only work against monks. Diversion can be used on anyone. I prefer signet of humility however, because there is nothing a monk can do to stop it except get out of casting range.

Ether lord will deny a total of 9 energy, over 9 seconds. You are right that it drains more than ether feast, but I was rarely at the bottom of my energy pool during fights, mostly due to my marginal use of signets and drain enchantment. I would hate to waste 15+ energy on a skill that will drain less than my other skills. Worst of all, it is a hex (think: smite hex) Running a cover hex is foolish, since the build is not hexed based, which means more often than not I could count on ether lord getting removed very fast.

A good idea actualy, with mantra of inscriptions up at this level of inspiration it should take about 23.85 seconds to recharge. Perhaps, if your team has a good amount of removal already, you could sub in leech signet, but if the team is low on enchantment control, you could run drain enchantment.

Why not replace Energy Burn with Spirit Shackles and add Mind Wrack? Remeber the nasty mergoyls in kryta?

for alters, maybe try QZ, oath shot, signet of humility and mantra of inscriptions (i think thats the one.... i mean the one that instantly recharges your signet), but otherwise this current build is good for single targets.

Can we say "expertise based on a mesmer primary" By the way, mantra of inscriptions is already in the build, it is the one that takes a % off the recharge time of signets. The stance that makes a signet come back instantly (mantra of signets) goes off as soon as you use a signet (not very helpful when I have a lot of signets) Signet of weariness with QZ and mantra of inscriptions takes about 8 seconds to recharge, fast enough for mass energy denial on alter maps. However, being a mesmer with no wilderness survival and without 25 energy to spare, I would then have to count on a ranger. Since this is a single build, not a whole team, it is designed to be able to function in almost any environment (primal echos would hurt, but almost anything else will further my cause)

Because mind wrack is rubbish for energy denial, as it does not do that. It does. . .damage! But wait, I am not here to do damage, certainly not at the cost of one of my skills slots. Mind wrack is nice in competition arenas, maybe in team arenas, but in tombs. . .
Spirit shackles, is, like the other energy denial things I did not take, a hex. Not only that, but monks do not go around wanding people, so it is pointless for monk shutdown. (key point there. I am not out to kill warriors, I am here to deny monks energy. If it does not further that cause, why would I bring it?)

Oh.. good point... mind wrack is sitting on an energy denial bar I have which is set to do damage as well... someone (me) needs to wake up before posting yet again.